Grand Opening!

There’s a sign in the strip mall near my office:

“China Wok Grand Opening!”

The thing is, China Wok has been there for as long as I can remember. Years. Serving up hot and sour soup that clears your sinuses way better than Sudafed. There’s no new ownership, no name change. Nothing whatsoever new.

It’s not really surprising. The owners of China Wok are trying hard, and they know that their fellow human beings tend to be infatuated with whatever is new. Or seems new.

We in PR tend to make that same shortcut too often. We’ve heard journalists demand fresh ideas and to-the-minute announcements for so long, we may think that if we don’t have any, our hands are tied. It’s called the “news,” not the “olds,” for heaven’s sake.

But anyone who pitches magazines knows that’s not really the case. Month after month, Better Homes & Gardens will post articles about making over a room in your house, Outside is going to have one proclaiming being in nature is good for you and Cosmo will have several about… you know.

And this principle increasingly applies even to top-tier dailies and broadcast.

Morning show producers have repeatedly told my Inner Circle that – contrary to popular belief – exclusivity is not a requirement to pitch them and their colleagues. And that a topic having gained traction on social media can actually be a plus, not a minus.

One of our Inner Circle members placed a story in The New York Times about an eye-catching program at her company… that had been running for 20 years.

To be sure, you need to be more creative than the equivalent of slapping a “Grand Opening!” sign on your stale restaurant. But avoiding media relations because you “don’t have anything new” is just a PR mind virus that you can kill and enjoy more coverage and more opportunities yourself.